A blogger in Brussels, Belgium, recently launched a collaborative art project that invites readers to create personalized yet anonymous bookmarks and leave them in random books in locations around the world. Thirty-two-year-old Renaud Dehareng says the point of NamelessleTTer is to encourage people to visit libraries and bookstores in hopes of discovering the bookmarks.
Anyone who wants to create a bookmark can send a digital photo of it, along with the title and location of the book in which it will be placed, to namelessletter@gmail.com. The photo, along with all relevant information, will be posted on the Web site at www.namelessletter.com.
Since the site was launched last December, bookmarks have been left in dozens of books—from Goodbye, Columbus to The Da Vinci Code; from a copy of Playboy to How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Barbecue Techniques. Readers interested in a truly literary treasure hunt can visit the National Library of France, the London Library, a Borders store in New York City, the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, or any of a number of other locations for a chance to find one of the bookmarks. Those who do so are encouraged to join the NamelessleTTer Community on Facebook and share the experience.
"I think this concept will encourage people to read more books and to develop an active reading," Renaud says.
